Legend of Thaeron
by SuperSigmaSeven
Summary: Advice and tips are welcome. Follow Thaeron, my OC, and his team while they unravel a mystery in the world of after the events of Korra.
1. Chapter 1

The air was thick. Every breath felt like inhaling stagnant swamp water. I hated every minute of it. The spirit wilds had regrown around the Republic City Spirit Portal very quickly after the portal was open, but I had never been in them until now. The mission my team and I were on went south fast and we ended up running for our lives from the Triple Threat Triad, The wilds were our only option. We ran for what seemed like hours. The adrenaline made the veins bulge from my head and arms. In the distance I saw some old ruins and we darted straight for them.

Once we got inside, there was no relaxing. Anger and fear took the place of shock.

"How could you let this happen?" My partner Lyra shouted hushedly at me. "I thought we were supposed to come up in the abandoned factory next door?"

"I followed my map to the letter. I have no idea how this happened" I said defensively.

"Then how did this happen? How did we end up in the triad headquarters? How did we end up here?"

The question rang into the wilds, silencing even the insects and the answer to her question loomed in the air like an invading war balloon. We Were in the Spirit Wilds. In the dead silence we could feel the wilds staring at us, weighing us. Lyra attempted to lay into me again, but Torga, the first and oldest of our trio, gave her a stern look that screamed "not in this place.".

"Guys I know this place is creepy, but I think we are in worse trouble." Torga whispered ominously.

"How do you figure?" Lyra retorted

"We had been planning this operations for months. Thaeron never dug us wrong once. He is the best digger in the city and one of the best earthbenders in the Creeping Crystals and all of a sudden he makes his first mistake. No! I don't buy it. We were digging a path to lead our boys right to the heart of Triple Threat territory.

"We all know the plan Torga get on with it." Lyra interrupted.

We had only been resting a few moments, if you could call arguing and being terrified resting, but Lyra was more panicked than Torga or I. I realized what Torga was about to say and he was right. Being there was the least of our problem.

"We were a distraction." Torga uttered.

"What?" Lyra protested. "Why would they do something like that."

"I don't know. Honestly, it was probably because we are fresh meat. We don't matter."

His words echoed in my ears and I already knew it was true. We couldn't have gone back to the Creeping Crystals. If we had, who knew what would've happened to us. We could have been killed or, at best, sent on another suicide mission. I went over scenario after scenario in my head. My thoughts raced faster and faster until they sounded like radio static in a Satomobile. My team's discussion was being drowned out. At some point I had stopped breathing. My chest was lurching, clawing for air, but my mouth just couldn't relieve my lungs. My world was crumbling around me. The earth started to tremble under the weight of my stress.

Lyra and Torga had seen meltdowns like this several times, but never to this level. I didn't hear them coming. Lyra wrapped her arms around my chest and put her warm body against my back. Torga squeezed both of us.

"It's okay." He said staring me in the eye. "I know it's not actually okay, but we will get through this together."

My darkening vision was returning to normal. The static in my ears began to fade. My energy was taken, as if a gust of wind tore it from me. I collapsed into my friend's arms.

"I'll make some tea." said Lyra in a very motherly voice.

They both let go. Torga sat me down gently, leaning me against the stone wall. I felt him sit next to me. His presence was impossible to miss. His body radiated heat like a fire bender, he wasn't, and he was large enough to be mistaken for a platypus-bear. I Wanted to thank them, but i was in a haze. The sadness had crept over me. I couldn't speak so i just watched and listened.

Lyra started removing a miniscule campfire set from her pack and setting it up. She lined up eight identical, fist size rocks, in a circle to make a small pit for the fire, then she set up a small, but thick wire tripod. She poured water from our extra canteen into the old, battered porcelain teapot. The sweet scent of Jasmine caressed my nose while she filled the diffuser with the loose leaves. Jasmine was my favorite. Lyra didn't like it much, but she kept some in her pack just for me. She hung the teapot and with an extension of her arm lit the coals under it.

I hadn't noticed how dark it was in our hideout, until we had a small fire. It was so dark under the canopy it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. The only light around was from glowing plants. It was then I realized we hadn't seen a single spirit since we got there, but I was too spent to bring up something else peculiar. I was content to spend time with my friends.

The light from the fire was dancing across Lyra's face. I tried not to stare, but her face told a story. She was new to the group, had only been with us a month or two and she had always given of the same aura as a sabertooth moose-lion, so i didn't ask many questions about her personal life. She had a thick scar straight across her face. It was so pale and soft compared to the rest of her tan skin. The scar cut perfectly across the bridge of her nose and into where both eyes should be. She only had one, but it shone like a pool of amber honey.

When i looked around I was surprised the dilapidated building was even able to stand. It was probably the pervasive spirit vines holding it together. What was once smooth earth bent walls now looked like elaborate stone masonry. It was unsettling, but I didn't care. I was ready to have some tea. Lyra balanced three cups of tea in one hand, holding them all at the base. She distributed them among the three of us and sat down.

" What are you thinking Torga? Are we Sleeping here or trying to slip out?" Lyra asked.

"Let's be honest. We don't even know how long we have been here. We don't know if there are death squads from two of the triads after us. I doubt anyone is chasing us in here, so I think we are staying here at least for the night, maybe longer."

"If i am the concern i think i'm ready to move." I murmured.

Torga and Lyra both looked very concerned, but continued discussing without my input. Gesturing her arm in a sweeping motion Lyra said.

"You know what the worst part about this is? She dramatically paused on purpose. "Where are the spirits?"

"She noticed too" I thought to myself.

"I didn't know you wanted to see spirits so bad." Torga responded sarcastically.

"I don't, but isn't this place supposed to be full of them. The airbenders give tours of this place to help acquaint people with the spirits and the wilds. It is unnerving to have not seen any since we arrived."

"Do i look terribly concerned. I don't believe all the ghost stories they told us when we were young. They were just to keep us from wandering in here. Look we blitzed here paniccing, running for our lives, we probably just scared them off. I think it's time to get some shut eye. Leave the fire going if you want."

Lyra looked more frightened than I had ever seen her.

"Thaeron if you are feeling strong enough, could you please bar the windows and doors? It would help me sleep better."

"Sure, I can do that."

I set my tea down and stood. When I looked around at the crumbled walls, I could tell that this had once been an opulent building. The windowsill was wooden, unlike the rest of the walls. The sill had ornate carvings detailing some badger-moles and the earth kingdom royal crest. The clay with which the walls were made were dyed bright white, although you couldn't tell at a glance.

Two of the outer walls were buried in dirt, ruble, and spirit vines, so I only had to worry about two walls. I started with the wall where the door was. When I peeked outside the door the wilds seem even denser than before. Great, I grumbled to myself. I took my horse stance. I felt my own energy leave my stomach, travel through my arms, out of my hands, and grab the earth around me. I pulled thick bars of earth across the wall, making the makeshift hideout look like a prison cell. I slowly walked to the other wall. I peeked through the window, expecting to see more of the same forest, but something caught my eye.

Deep purple lights blinked in the distance. I knew it was odd, because the rest of the natural lights in the wilds were yellows and greens. I had never seen purple lights and it made my skin crawl. They didn't do anything and i couldn't see past them. Their very existence bothered me, but I reasoned that it was just my nerves making me panic again, so I ignored them and bent bars across the wall.

We all took our camping gear out of our packs. We didn't have many nice things, but our camping gear was great. Torga got them for us when Lyra joined the crew. We laid out our small sleeping pads and blankets. The blankets we especially nice, because the were dew proof. No one liked waking up moist. We settled in close to fire and one by one drifted off.


	2. Chapter 2

When the morning came there were harsh beams of light shining through the earthen bars I had set up. I was sleeping so deeply it would have been easier to wake the dead. The wave of morning exhaustion blurred my vision. I rubbed my eyes and stretched hard, like a tigerdillo. The light was pleasant, until I remembered where we were. No sunlight reached this part of the wilds. I dashed under the window trying to remain unseen. I frantically whispered to my friends, but their beds were empty. They couldn't have gotten out of our hideout. I had begun to panic. Fear quickly overtook me, for myself and for my friends. The sound of marching boomed through the open window. Unable to breathe, I prepared to make a mad dash. I jumped up to my feet, but everything was gone.

I wasn't in the wilds anymore. I was in a lush green meadow, peppered with trees and tall flower patches. The grass was soft on my feet and the sun was gentle on my face. Despite my confusion, it was impossible to panic here. I wanted to scream and run in desperate search of my friends, but the very air was pervasively calming, so I began walking. Ambling along, I caressed the trees and blossoms with my outstretched hand. In the wilds the passage of time was difficult to discern, but here it was as if time didn't exist. I walked for days, but the sun never moved.

While I was walking, I noticed that nothing ever changed. I passed the same trees once, twice, one thousand times. I walked without stopping for years. My bones became brittle and my skin pruned permanently. My eyes began to grey, when for the first time in seventy years I saw something different, water. I shuffled over leaning heavily on the cane I made for myself. when I sat down on the bank of the pond my bones creaked with age. A lifetime without water had left me parched. I leaned over to drink deeply, but when I did, I saw a young man staring at me. It wasn't just any young man, it was me as I was when I came to this place. Shocked I reached for my face. It was smooth again and the pains of age were gone. The forever blue sky blinked black, as if someone was flicking a light switch. Red lighting crashed through the sky and the wind began to blow unnaturally. I looked back down feeling panicked for the first time in decades. The face looking back at me was still mine, but he had glowing red eyes. He smiled an evil toothy grin. His arms burst from the water, wrapping his arms around my neck. I tried to resist, but it was pointless. He dragged me into the water.

Further and further down he pulled me, until I couldn't see the surface anymore. My lungs desperately sucked for air, but I wouldn't open my mouth. The chest pain was so excruciating I almost passed out. While I was struggling I hadn't noticed I was no longer being pulled. I fought to open my eyes in the black water. When I finally managed to open my eyes, he was there, angrily staring at me. A red aura surrounded him. My consciousness was escaping me. He opened his mouth and roared. It didn't sound like we were under water. It sounded like rage. When he stopped he grew into a colossus. I tried to swim away, when a torrent of murk flushed me into his mouth. I futilely tried to hold on to one of his giant teeth, but a searing pain in my hands caused me to lose my grip.

The struggle of drowning turned into the sensation of falling. It was pitch black. If my stomach wasn't turning and my hair wasn't fluttering, I would not have known I was falling. I was not in water any more, but the bile in my throat prevented me from taking a breathe. Not long after being eaten, I slammed into the ground. I wasn't inside him, but I didn't have time to be relieved. My stomach let go of all of its contents, which should have been nothing. I was back in the meadow, but it was different. Everything was burned to ash and the sky was cloudy with soot. The once beautiful meadow had turned into grime that caked to my bare skin. I curled into a ball begging for death. There was no way I could walk for another lifetime, not in that place, but I had to. I had to find my way home.

When I stood up to begin another eternal trudge, I felt a thick wetness dripping onto my feet. I looked up, scared of what might have been there, but there was nothing. I looked down and saw that my hands were bleeding. I searched in vain for anything I could use so stop the bleeding. I held out my hands so the blood wouldn't drip on my legs. When the first drop touched the ground I felt the earth tremble underneath me. My feet were slowly being engulfed in the ashen ground. I couldn't move. The pressure felt like it was going to crush my bones. I fought against the earth. I should have known better, but my instincts were trying to keep me alive. While I was struggling I heard a deep, thunderous laughter erupting from the sky. It was gleeful and terrifying. I clawed to keep my chest above the ground, to no avail. I was completely enveloped by the earth.

The pressure on my body had dissipated, but I was back in darkness. I felt no sensations. I didn't hear anything or smell anything, even the taste of my own mouth was absent. I had no idea how long I had actually been floating in that abyss. Eventually, I saw something. Sets of glowing purple lights began to appear. The lights were moving towards me. I closed my eyes anticipating something else horrific to happen to me. I felt hands on my shoulders and heard whispering in my ears. They were whispering my name.

"Thaeron," they said softly.

"Thaeron." This time it was louder.

"Thaeron!" they screamed in my ear.

I opened my eyes and Torga was kneeling over me sobbing. When he saw me looking at him a rush of relief washed over his face.  
"Are you okay?" Torga whimpered. "We have been trying to wake you up for hours. We thought you were gone.".


End file.
